Chuck vs El Cid
by zp3of7
Summary: Sarah is force to deal with the reality of Chuck killing someone
1. Chapter 1

Chuck Vs El Cid

I don't own Chuck and never will. El Cid was a knight in the 1400's well respected by friend and foe alike. A most virtuous knight loyal to a corrupt king unworthy of his fielty.

Sarah sat nearly catatonic, tears silently streaming down her face. Mumbling to herself "you should have let him kill me" over and over. Chuck sat, craddling her in his arms, astonished by her words. Agent Shaw had tried to kill Sarah. He would have succeeded if Chuck hesitated and not shot him. This turned out to be his "red test".

The extraction team took Sarah to a psyche ward for evaluation and observation. She didn't need any sedation, she was quite pliant. Given a room to rest in, Chuck turned his attention to her asigned doctor. Chuck started asking if he could help in any way possible and wound-up telling as much of Sarah's life as he knew. Her childhood as the distraction while her father pulled con after con, moving from town to town. How her father's arrest provided her an opportunity to join the CIA. He even talked about this recent assignment of protecting an asset who she trained to be a spy. The spy, he told the doctor, standing in front of him. Dr. Sydney Berenstein was intrigued. The dynamic of protector to trainer to partner was astounding, no wonder the strong connection. He kept asking questions of Chuck. One hour, two hours rolled by. Finally Chuck stopped the questioning, this was supposed to be about Sarah.

"Please indulge me agent Charmicheal, do you love her?" the doctor asked. "With all my heart." came the swift reply. "Do you trust her?" Again no hesitation. "With my life, and my family's."

"Astounding", the doctor whispered. " So really? Never?" "Yes, Dr. Berenstein, never." Chuck was getting tired of this same question coming up. "Our relationship was..... complicated."

The following day, Sarah woke rested, but depressed. Feeling nature call( long distance of course) she was compelled to answer. Noticing the new slippers and bathrobe, she smirked. "Just like the Four Seasons." On the way to the bathroom she noticed the camera, it wasn't tracking her so she ignored it. Returning to her bed, she curled up into a ball,trying to ignore the memory of the past few days. A knock followed by Dr. Berenstein entering the room couldn't cause her to move. "Can I get you anything Sarah? Breakfast? Water? Shots of tequila?" "Just like all the other guys I know, get me drunk to get me to talk." She deadpanned. "Hey, it worked when I was a bartender, so why not? You know the only difference between the two, is that a trained psychologist can tell the topics you're trying to avoid. Besides, if we wander into topics I'm not cleared for, they'll just hit me with a twilight dart." The sound of a tranq gun goes off and the doctor falls to the floor. Rushing to his side, Sarah starts a light slap to Dr. Berenstein's face, while searching for the dart.

"You're a very good spy agent Walker, not many would actually look for the dart." The doctor stood up. "I'm sorry about that but I had to see if you still cared about others. It's also good spy humor don't you think?" Slapping his shoulder she turned and sat on the bed. "You would get along great with Chuck." She said, a concerned frown showed on her face. "Yes I got that feeling too when we chatted yesterday. He's quite a guy, you should feel glad he's there for you." Sarah spoke slowly, "oh yeah, lucky me." Tears escaped her eyes. The doctor continued probing, "why so sad Sarah? Shouldn't you be glad that you're alive? Don't you think he's a hero? Isn't Chuck your hero worthy of your love?"

The flustered agent responded, "I can never love him! He's a murderer!" Confused by this outburst the doctor countered. "I have eyewitness accounts stating that Chuck begged, pleaded, negotiated for your release, only to be forced to choose your death or killing agent Shaw. Hardly a murderer, in fact I'd call him a hero. He saved a life, yours. Was it because he had to kill your boyfriend?" A quiet voice responded. "He wasn't my boyfriend, I was going to leave with Chuck to Mexico." "Interesting" was the response. "Sarah, I'm going to leave now and won't be back until you eat."

It took a full day before Sarah would eat. Just as promised Dr. Berenstein returned to her room. "Are you ready for more torture agent Walker?" the doctor chided. "Is there anything you would like to say to me?" Sarah thought for a while. "How long will I be here?" "Well at the risk of sounding like all the other shrinks you have encountered, it's all up to you Sarah. So where should we start?"

Lunch came and went, they talked about her childhood. How her first kiss was to a boy she would never see again because her father started a con in another town and they left early the next day. Dinnertime came and the good doctor decided to eat with her in order to continue the thead of conversation. "You must have had a very lonely life agent Walker, no one to ever love you, just for who you are. Was Bryce your first sexual partner?" Delaying her response, Sarah waited for her thoughts to organize. "No he wasn't the first. There was college, seduction school and some Marks before he was the first person I thought I could love." "Thought you could love? Does this mean you never loved Bryce?" The doctor needed to know. "Well" Sarah began, "at the time I thought I was in love but now I know it wasn't true love. Chu- some one else taught me that. Remember spys don't fall in love."

"Is that why you can't love Chuck now, because he's a spy? Excuse me for being skeptical, but weren't you in a sexual relationship with agent Shaw before he tried to kill you? And for that matter, when you were Chuck's handler why didn't you use sex to control your asset? It's a proven method. Lord knows he never seemed to follow instructions." Dr. Berenstein was sure he found the reason for her breakdown, he just had to make her see her search for purity and redemtion in a man was misplaced, no matter how good a man he is.

"No Dr. , I could never use sex to control this asset. He was too sweet and innocent to abuse his trust." She was staring at the wall a blank look on her face. "Sarah, why don't we pick up this conversation tomorrow with this thought- does everyone deserve to be loved, does everyone deserve to be forgiven? Goodnight ,Sarah."

The orderlies were picking up Sarah's breakfast tray when Dr. Berenstein entered. He nodded to Sarah and asked "have you given any thought about what we talked about last night, agent Walker? Do any of us deserve to be loved. Do any of us deserve to be forgiven. I'd actually like to know if you deserve to be loved or forgiven." "No", came the one word response. "No what? No you didn't think about it?" He needed to draw her out. "No, I've done too many horrible things. I can't be forgiven. I don't deserve love."

"Ahh. Now we're getting to the heart of the problem." Dr. Berenstein droned on. " You don't love yourself enough to forgive yourself. And now since your knight in shining armour has a dent, he isn't pure enough to clense your soul. You won't forgive yourself for turning his pure heart into a killer. It's a very vicious circle." Silence ensued. Changing the subject,the good Dr. persued another line of reasoning. "Chuck mentioned you both were planning to go off-grid, why would you be able to love him then, and not now?"

"It would have been what we have always wanted, no cover, no lies, just us."

"Wow", Dr. Berenstein exclaimed. "I've never known such smart people to be so dumb. If you both went off-grid your whole life would be different covers and different lies in every new place you would stay. Fighting to stay alive from friend and foe alike." The Dr. brought a large pen with a flashing light out of his pocket. "Sarah as an original participant of Project Omaha you know there are few viable recipients of the Intersect. Chuck will never be free. And furthermore you can never be free. I saw your test results. It should have been you and not Bryce to receive it. Sexist are everywhere." The pen clicked. "So Sarah, I'll ask a different question, why couldn't you have a normal life with Chuck?"

An exasperated scream came from Sarah's lips. "What part of my life is normal! I kill people!"

"Calm down agent Walker," the Dr. began, "you protect the country and the country's secrets in your job. But that's what it is, a job. At the end of the day you're allowed to go home, you're allowed to be human. You wake up, you do your job, and you go home. What could be more normal than that?" He could see the wheels turning in her mind. "The job you do is morally ambiguous, but instead of holding on to the one person who always does the right thing, you push him away. He was forced to decide between his love for you or your life. To him, there was nothing to decide, just how he would live without your love. It has been a good conversation today. I'll talk to you soon." And he left the room.

The following three days passed slowly for Sarah. With nothing to do she only had her thoughts to keep her company. When Dr. Berenstein returned to talk, Sarah gave him a big smile. "Hi doc, it's good to see you." "It's good see you Sarah, and in a good mood too. What should we start with today?"

"Well, I realize I can't continue to blame myself for the sins my father caused, because they were his sins, not mine. Although I was a willing particpant, I wasn't old enough to truly see it was wrong. I guess I have finally let go of the guilt. I almost feel like I left a bad partner. Lighter but without remorse."

"Speaking of bad partners." The Dr. began. "What was the basis of your infatuation with agent Shaw? From what I have seen in recordings, his features were always schooled, never revealing any emotions. Quite a difference from agent Charmicheal."

"I.... I felt safe with Daniel, we could talk about things, and...it felt familiar." Sarah forced out.

"So you felt safe with a man who, by all accounts, had a target painted on his back. And you talked about things, like all lovers do, like children and places to live. Am I getting this right Sarah?" He probed. "And it felt familiar because...."

"Stop it! Stop it!" Sarah yelled. "No. It wasn't like that!" She calmed down. "We talked about missions, and coping with the pain, and past partners. Things like that."

"So, all things spy related, he's such a romantic! But that's why he was safe, wasn't it, spies don't fall in love. You would never love him. Another contrast with Chuck, who is a bundle of emotional chaos. An unrelenting bundle of chaos." The Dr.'s exasperation was showing now. "I truly believe that if you don't get better soon, agent Walker, that I will be in the next room as a patient."

Sarah giggled, which turned into a full laugh, as she visualized what the Dr. had said. "Sarah, can you tell me what you were thinking when agent Shaw decided to get captured in order to defeat the Ring?"

"Well, I thought he was a hero, a true patriot willing to sacrifice himself to protect us all." She stated.

"Can I explain why I think you're wrong Sarah. Will you listen to my reasoning?" She nodded. "I saw the video. And what I saw was a man bent on suicide. He wouldn't listen to any modifications to his plan. He didn't want to come back. He was going to die as a martyr to the memory of his long dead wife. As he left, he entrusted your wellbeing into Chuck's hands as if he tossed the keys to his car. He wasn't even worthy of the kiss you gave him a minute earlier. True patriots may get difficult missions, but always in their planning, they find that last bit of hope to retun to their loved ones. From a strictly operational viewpoint, Shaw failed at all of his objectives. The tracking device was removed. The bunker didn't even have any leaders of the Ring present."

"Oh my God." Sarah said with realization showing on her face. "I've got to talk to Chuck." She started to look for her phone. "Dr. can I see him? Is he here?"

"Yes and yes. He's in the cafeteria talking to one of the nurses." Dr. Berenstein couldn't stop himself. A smirk played on his lips.

"Is she a brunette? Nevermind. Could you unlock the door for me Dr.?" Sarah was pacing.

"You mean you never once tried to open the door? Its not locked. This is a secure facility."

Sarah was at full speed out the door, with the Dr. yelling after her. "Main cafeteria to the left down the long hall!"

A minute passed and a short red headed general enters the room.

"This isn't what I wanted, Sydney, She's compromised."

"You wanted the Intersect team fully functional and in the field. I merely reasoned with her finding out what caused her breakdown. The path to her recovery was her own. Besides Diane, she's the most dedicated and fiercest protector he'll ever need. After those two talk today, she should stay here tonight. I think it only fitting that she be released on Easter."


	2. Chapter 2

The Interrogation

I own the rights to watch Chuck, but nothing else.

It had been weeks since Sarah's meltdown and their relationship had blossomed. A normalcy of sorts had crept into their lives, intermingled with missions and briefings. A routine developed where the day progressed from work to possible missions to dinner and sleepovers, many sleepovers. Today was no exception. They weren't insatiable, far from it, they were quite sated by the time they fell asleep in each others arms. Tonight was different. As they collapsed together Chuck needed to coax Sarah to allow him to remove the spent condom. "Sarah, oh Sarah. I need to get it out."

"No, don't move." Her eyes were closed. "Just a little bit longer don't move." Clinching him closer as she shuddered.

"Okay,... but it has to happen soon."Her grip loosened and Chuck took this to mean it was okay to do it. Continuing to talk Chuck rolled and reached to remove the offending item from her. "Sarah, you know I love you." He kissed her breasts while performing his task. She bucked, nearly kicking him in his sensitive spot. Her reaction convinced Chuck to try to keep the night special. He moved his thigh between Sarah's legs and slowly rocked. Her response was a slow moan followed by her squirming beneath him.

"You know I love you, Sarah."

"I love you too, Chuck." Her quick response encourage his pillow talk.

"I've always wondered what your middle name is. Can you tell me." His hands were brushing her nipples almost coaxing her to talk.

"It's Lisa, it's Lisa."She groaned again, wiggling under him, her eyes still closed, groaning again.

"Should we have kids? …. And how many."He was curious, but still was just trying keep the mood going while he recovered. Maybe he would be able soon to start making love again.

"Two,...... no three. I'd love to have one with your hair." Sarah answered. She still hadn't opened her eyes and her hand was gripping his butt forcing him closer.

"Anywhere you would like to live besides LA?" She'd seen most of the world, he'd go anywhere for her.

"No,.. no,... just with you... Anywhere with you... San Trope, nice...mmmmrr nice." Wow, this was some powerful stuff. How come he never was able to do this with any other girl?

"Did you find any nice places in the states with your dad?" Maybe they would try a quiet U.S. town.

"Portland.... Maine, quiet... nice people." She released his butt and stuck her fingers in his hair, pulling him to kiss her. Passionate kissing ensued only to be stopped by their mutual need for air. Gasping Chuck continued.

"I love you. I always will." He was back to fondling and kissing her breasts with his thigh slowly rubbing her "the right way". "Can I ask about your first kiss?"

"I was thirteen. Timmy... or Tommy...Kalamazooooo..."Sarah hadn't thought about that since she was 16. They had moved 2 days after kissing him when her dad finished his used car con. Suddenly the spell was broken. Her eyes shot open. "What are you doing?!" Quickly sitting up she slapped Chuck.

"Ow! What was that for? What did I do?!"

"You were interrogating me!" Sarah screamed. "How dare you take the most intimate part of our lives and twist it like that! I thought you were better than that."

Chuck had never seen her so angry. He started to feel lucky her knives were in the lamp table 3 feet away. "I wasn't doing anything, I thought we were talking and being intimate. You know, pillow-talk It's what couples do." A thought occurred to him. "Didn't you ever talk with anyone else, you know when you're in bed? Making love?"

Sitting at the headboard with a sheet wrapped around her, Sarah had a confused look plastered to her face. Chuck tried to move towards her to comfort her only to be challenged off with an accusatory finger pointed his way. "Don't even!" She spat out. Sarah moved off the bed. "I'm taking a shower."

Chuck rolled off the bed to find his shorts and after putting them on, fell face first on the bed. "What now?" He thought to himself. The minefield of Sarah Walker's heart and convoluted mind had stopped the most wonderful moment of his life.

Her shower didn't take long. Fully clothed rushing to the nightstand looking for her phone, Sarah ignored the other occupant of the bedroom. "Stay here." Her anger hadn't left her. "I'm going for a walk. Don't leave, we'll talk when I get back."

"But Sarah, it's 3 am, where are you going to go?"

She exited her apartment bound for her car. Driving off, she set course for a nearby park where she could gather her thoughts and call the only person she could trust with this issue. "Dr. Berenstein? I'm sorry to bother you, but you did say call anytime, day or night."

"Sure Agent Walker, you do realize it's only 6:30 am East Coast time? I just got out of the shower. Can this wait til I get to the office?" The doctor continued drying off.

"No doc I'm sorry that would be too late. I really need your help right now. It's about Chuck, I think he's rogue." Sarah's paranoia and insecurities couldn't wait. She was still in a panic and it carried in her voice.

Having met Chuck, the doctor couldn't conceive of any reason for Chuck to turn rogue. He was too caring and thoughtful to be a spy, let alone go rogue. "Tell me everything that happened tonight. Were you on a mission, did something go wrong?"

"Well", she started. " We had a rare night off, so we had dinner, watched a movie and went to bed. And in the middle of making love he started to pump me for information." Sarah cringed when she realized her double entendre. "I mean interrogate me."

Sidney almost laughed out loud hearing the explanation. "So... he was pumping you for information." A smirk crossed his face. "And you tried so hard to resist telling the state secrets held in you head? Am I right?" He was trying to highlight the irony for Sarah, after all, Chuck was the one with the Intersect.

Missing his point, Sarah forged on. "But he was asking questions he had no business knowing! About....about who my first love was . Ah..where I lived . Ahh...what city I thought looked the best. Ah.... how many kids,..and..and.... oh crap!" The light flicked on. "Oh crap! I just blew it didn't I?"

Laughing quietly, tears forming, Dr. Berenstein tried his best to council his patient. "Sarah, this is your first real relationship without any hidden agenda. That guy of yours lives and breathes for you. I'm sure there are secrets that you would not like to divulge to him, but remember, if he needed to know something about you, all he has to do is search for it. But if he wants to know something about who you are, then he has to ask you. My gut feeling tells me that what disturbed you wasn't the questions, but how vulnerable you were when he asked them."

"Oh God Dr. how am I.....what am I....oh shit, shit , shit." Calmly Dr. Berenstein interrupted "My suggestion is for you to go to Chuck, get him in such a blissfully unaware state like you were in, and tell him all you secrets. Maybe ask him about his secrets. But go talk to him."

Thanking the doctor and hanging up, Sarah turned her car back to her apartment and Chuck. The doctor, meanwhile, allowed himself to fully laugh. He was going to have a real good day, nothing could bring him down.

Sarah rushed into her apartment. Found Chuck fully clothed and ready to apologize. "No. You don't get to say anything. I don't want you to say you're sorry. Because...because I need to say I'm sorry." Chuck sat down on the bed with a soft smile appearing on his face, content to say nothing. "I'm sorry, Chuck, I was scared. I had never before lost all control like that." Chuck wanted to say something right then but Sarah cut him off. "Don't you dare say that will never happen again or I'll divorce you!"

"But Sarah, we're not even married." She sternly pointed at him to get him to shut up. She wanted to be married to him, have three kids. Life was good. The full Bartowski smile took hold. Seeing his smile Sarah softened letting a grin come. She grabbed both of his hands and looked down in his eyes.

"I was afraid you would find out about my secret. Only three people alive know it. Project Omaha." She watched Chuck flash. "You probably know the list of potential Intersect candidates. Right?" Chuck nodded. "Well, everyone on that list is dead, except you, and me. I don't know why your name was still on it since your test was invalidated when Bryce framed you for cheating. The others were killed along with Director Graham when the second Intersect blew up. And you know about Bryce. My secret is about you. It's why I fought so hard to keep you out of the bunker and to keep you alive. You see it's purely selfish. If I couldn't keep a sweet and innocent guy from being a liability, then how could I justify a corrupt conman's daughter to stay alive. They could have made me the Intersect. I couldn't let you find out if I just let it slip. It would ruin any chance I have with you."

Catching her breath and releasing her worry, she allowed Chuck to pull her closer. As she fell into his embrace, she reminded Chuck they still had much to discuss. "Honey, please move you hands higher." Chuck complied by loosening the grip on her ass. "My score was actually a couple of points higher than Bryce's, but the powers that be decided they wanted a male Intersect."

Ignoring the direction that Sarah was leading the conversation, he chaged the subject. "What would you like to do for a few hours? The jewelry stores won't open til 9 and its only about 5 now."

She started to get angry. "Forget about the jewelry stores! We need to talk about..." Chuck cut her off.

"I know what you want to talk about. I've thought about it since I knew my dad was Orion, who just so happened to have an original Intersect in his head. I know we will need to protect our kids from almost everything electronic, just so that no one can try to find out if they're capable. We're gonna have to be the worst restrictive parents ever. No CD's, DVD's, video games, Emails, nor lava lamps unless we've checked them out first."

"Lava lamps?" She inquired. He shrugged. Sarah smirked and relaxed. He had been paying attention. Leapfrogging subjects again she spoke. "I think a third of a carat princess cut with an emerald cut on each side would look nice. Maybe platinum, it's harder and more durable so I wouldn't lose a stone if I had to hit someone."

A grin devoloped as he thought to himself. My gangsta bitch Barbie is back.


	3. Chapter 3

Chuck vs The NSA Recruit

standard disclaimer: I know nothing!

Colonel Casey is tasked to confirm or reject a new NSA recruit assigned to Team Bartowski.

Sitting on an airplane destined for D.C. John Casey was of two minds. Upset the opportunity for gun play taking down the newest "baddie" Chuck flashed on was interrupted, and confused by his abrupt recall to Washington by General Beckman. Unable to resolve either, he accepted the drink from the stewardess with a warm smile. He was getting soft in his old age, what was it now, 44 or 45? John Casey's birthday was 2 months ago, Alex Coburn's wouldn't be for 6 months. He shouldn't dwell on his regrets, but on a long flight it was hard not to.

Arriving in D.C., he quickly reported to General Beckman's office curious about the sudden need for a face to face briefing. His appointment was for 2pm so he was forced to wait another half hour before being escorted into her office. Entering respectfully, eyes firmly ahead, Colonel Casey saluted. "Agent John Casey reporting as ordered ma'am."

"Colonel Casey of the NSA, I would like you to meet Marine Seargent Alex Mc Hugh, recruit candidate for the NSA. Her records are in front of you ready for your perusal and into your care I will entrust her. Your recuit's acceptance or dismissal is at your discretion alone." The general now turned and spoke to Ms Mc Hugh. "Recruit, you will fufill all orders given by Colonel Casey, fail at your peril." Speaking again to Casey she softened. "John, I am authorizing you to reveal any and all information you deem necessary to confirm or reject this recruit. The lone exception being the true nature of your current assignment in Burbank. I'm giving you a chance John, to bury regrets."

"Respectfully, General, I reject this recruit as unfit for duty." Casey stated stoic as ever.

"Denied Colonel. You will train this recruit. In 30 days you will submit your report. She can bivuoac at Walker's residence while Walker cohabits with Agent Charmicheal." leaving no room for argument, Casey saluted and turned to leave.

"McHugh! With me!" Casey barked, striding out of the office. They were both in the elevator when she finally spoke. "Why are you so against me. You haven't even given me a chance to fail. Is it because I'm a woman? I've been in combat before."

"Do you have any civies, because you need to change. This is a covert ops. You will not salute me. You will adress me as Casey or John, and I will call you Alex or Miss McHugh." Casey began. At least she lasted longer than Bartowski, being silent, he mused. "Some of the best agents I've seen are women, I'm not a sexist if that's what you're getting at."

"No, well yeah. And I do have civies." She shook her duffle ride to the airfield was quiet, they road "space available" on the next open seat in a transport plane. Without amenities it was loud, cold, and hard as rock seating. "Colonel, can you brief me on this assignment?" She yelled.

"Miss McHugh, you've already forgotten my first instruction to you. As for the assignment, we will be landing near LAX and driving to my team's base in Burbank. The ops center is under a retail establishment and known only to a few operatives. This is a joint NSA/CIA operation designed to eliminate subversive forces within the U.S.. The agents assigned to my team have ah... unique skill sets and have " cover" jobs that they must attend to. We are tasked as necessary to carry out missions to capture or eliminate these threats. Any questions so far?" Casey's manner seemed to soften.

"Yeah, ah...John I was wondering what my cover would be. Will I need to find a job or how will this work?" Being prepared is important to Alex, just like Girlscouts, she was always prepared. That's why she had the 4 inch Gerber strapped to her ankle. When she was in Kandahar province a dispute between Afgani women she tried to seperate, escalated when their husbands showed up. Calmer heads prevailed that day after she subdued the husband that grabbed her from behind. She nearly broke his arm, the women stopped in their tracks as they realized the sweet girl turned into a knife weilding tigress. If Alex hadn't been able get the upperhand, her squad would have shot everybody.

"Alex I haven't decided what your cover will be, it'll be settled after arriving at Castle." Casey rubbed his eyes, it had been a long day. "I'm gonna get some shut eye, I suggest you do the same."


	4. Chapter 4

Chuck vs The Second Nerd

What if Morgan walks in on Chuck's Intersect refresher, would Morgan be super too, or super dead?

Still don't own Chuck, just the rights to watch. I'd like to thank all of you for reading and for the reviews. This is such a trip and an ego boost. I've never had an audience before. El Cid was just supposed to be me venting about how psychotic they made Sarah in the show, and now you have forced (forced? Would it be so bad?) to create a complete story. Thanks again.

It was nearly lunchtime when Sarah entered the Buymore looking for Chuck. Scanning the room unable to find him, she set a path to Morgan. "Hey Morgan, is Chuck on an install? Has he finished with the Beckman house yet?"

"Oh hey thats good, I get it. Ah no, I don't think he's through talking yet, but should I send him your way when he gets back?" Morgan understood the message. Chuck was in Castle. What he didn't know is that Chuck was having a rare refresher download for the Intersect.

"That would be great. I'll be at the apartment waiting for him." Said Sarah, as she turned and walked out of the store. Morgan never one for patience, decided to enter Castle and tell Chuck that Sarah was waiting for him. The entrance behind the lockers wouldn't open for him. He tried all of his known key codes, but no luck. Not to be defeated , Morgan then tried Chuck's key code that he had borrowed ( ok, stolen). "Voila! I knew I just had to be persistant." Morgan was so pleased with himself.

"Hey buddy. I just...What,... is he playing video games." Morgan had entered the conference room to see Chuck sitting back in a swivel chair staring at the main display console. Dozens of images strobed as Morgan walked up to Chuck waving a hand in front of his face. "Hey dude. Wha....." Morgan looked up and was mezmirized by the images.A few seconds rolled by. The images stopped abruptly, causing Morgan to fall. An hour passed. Chuck woke to find his friend passed out on the floor.

"Morgan! Hey come on buddy wake up." Chuck was now slapping Morgan's face with the hope of reviving him. It was apparently a lost cause so Chuck moved him into a holding cell to let him rest more comfortably. Panicked, he called Sarah to find out what to do. "Sarah, Morgan is in Castle, he must've seen part of my refresher. I can't wake him. What do you mean, don't freak out? Of course I'm freaking out!...... Ok, good, good. I'll review Castle's tapes and find out how much he saw. Should I call Devon? No, ok, I'll wait for you."

Chuck quickly found the exact time when Morgan entered the conference room. He advanced the video to the moment Morgan looked at the Intersect images and noted the time stamp. He continued watching and found the total elapsed time was ten seconds of exposure. Hopefully, ten seconds wouldn't cause irreperable harm to Morgan, afterall the fulcrum test images were at least a minute long. Scrolling to the start of Morgan's exposure, Chuck zoomed in and started to catalogue the individual frames of the download. As Chuck flashed on each one, he wrote the information down. Some of the images didn't cause a reaction which piqued his curiosity.

Chuck's phone rang. Glancing at Sarah's image, he quickly answered. "Hi, are you going to be awhile?"

"Walker secure. We're working remember? I can't get into castle, could you release the lockout protocols?" She heard a "woosh" as the freezer door released it's lock, allowing entrance. Walking to the staircase, Chuck gestured to Sarah, causing her to quickly put her left hand in her pocket. With her ring securely hidden, a sheepish smile formed on her lips. She couldn't scold him now, not when she couldn't remember the cover to the real undercover thing- under the cover. This was getting too complicated. They needed to convince, no.. con General Beckman into believing it would be necessary for the REAL cover. She would plan this with Chuck later.

"Anything new to report on the... subject, Agent Bartowski?" So thats how she wanted to play it. Keep it professional in front of the cameras.

Pointing to Morgan's prone form in a cell. " No, he seems to be in REM sleep, although I wouldn't know what a coma looks like." Chuck moved to the display monitor showing a composite picture to Sarah. "I've isolated the screen shots of the images. I want you to put on some glasses if you're gonna peak." He sat down, concerned for her safety.

"How did he get in anyway? Did he hack the system?" From a strictly security viewpoint Sarah was really worried.

"He's not that good. He can barely log on to the company E-mail system. No, he must have found some info in my locker a couple of years back, and didn't know what it was for until now." Chuck frowned. How could one of his happy memories turn into a problem?

"Since you're going to change it, can you tell me?" Sarah wanted to know. It would help her to understand how Chuck thought.

"It was an address at Meadow Brook. You know, the Fulcrum Intersect test." How could she forget. It was nice waking up making him breakfast. It would've been perfect if it hadn't been for the murdering traitors trying to kill them.

"I thought you would've gone with a zip code near Barstow." She smirked, not looking up from their work.

"Nah, that would make it too similar to yours. I couldn't have the watchers get suspicious. Right? An address in Barstow?" Her agent facade covered her face. "I'm just glad you didn't change it to pl7c204h19."

She decifered the code. Platform 7 car 204 1900 hours-- Prague. A chill cast over her heart. She pressed on, "well now at least you can change it to 236419."

"Nah,... I didn't like 2:48 to 4:22. You were gone an awful long time. I had too much to think about." He had already made his choice, 50441910. It was the exact moment they became engaged. Neither one had asked, neither one cared the actual words weren't spoken. Sarah had made her choice too. 1038419. The moment Chuck rebuffed the flirty sales girl trying to sell them an engagement ring. It was the only time she had ever seen Chuck ask for a different sales clerk in any store.

"I'm really worried about Morgan," Chuck began. "What if he doesn't wake up? What if he does and now he's programmed? Do we tell everybody? The only good thing I can think about now is that almost half of what he saw seem to be empty intersect images."

"Empty? Empty how?" Sarah inquired. "I thought an image held a whole packet of information. So how could any of them be empty?"

"Remember that I was getting an update, so many of the files were just add-ons. I think that some were place holders or identified a location, or even near the end told me to reset and re-boot. In a sense a way for me to defrag the files." He became silent as he looked at the monitor to Morgan's room.

In a concerned voice Sarah spoke. "That's what worries you the most, isn't it. Morgan may not have the structure in place to answer a command to re-boot. And what would be defragged?" Chuck nodded. "Don't worry, I'll call Devon and see if he can give Morgan a check-up. Afterwards if everthing seems ok I'll drive him home and wait for you Chuck. And Chuck, if he doesn't wake by tomorrow, we'll have to tell General Beckman and choose a facility... to take him."

Chuck watched as Devon poked and prodded, tested and checked all of Morgan's vitals. "Did you trank him?" Devon asked. "Because that's all I can figure out. He isn't in a coma. He's definitely dreaming, but won't wake." Chuck was relieved for the almost good news. And after receiving advice from Devon, set about his task of covering for Morgan at the Buy More. With the prearranged plan in place, they let the evening unfold.


End file.
